SAN DIEGO — Joe Musgrove took a second clear of the mayhem of the clubhouse birthday celebration after the San Diego Padres clinched a playoff spot to mirror on the place his occupation has been and the place he wants it to head.
The giant right-hander will perpetually be remembered because the hometown child who threw the primary no-hitter in franchise historical past, in simply his 2d get started with the Padres. He pitched in his first All-Star Game this 12 months after which signed a $100 million, five-year contract.
Musgrove helped the Padres clinch an NL wild-card spot, simply the 7th playoff berth within the franchise’s most commonly forgettable 54-year historical past. His final purpose is successful any other World Series ring that he would believe extra legit than the only he received with the scandal-tinged Houston Astros in 2017.
“It’s a been a long time since we’ve been in this spot,” mentioned Musgrove, who grew up cheering for the Padres and his favourite participant, 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy, whose No. 44 he now wears. “It’s pretty crazy how it all worked out. I end up back here in a year where we’ve got a team like we have to make it this far.”
The no-hitter at Texas on April 9, 2021, burnished his title in franchise lore and endeared him to the long-suffering fan base. It additionally netted him unfastened beer for lifestyles from Ballast Point Brewing Co. and his personal beer, No-No Joe Double IPA from Resident Brewing, which was once in considerable provide all the way through Sunday’s clubhouse birthday celebration.
“After the no-hitter, that moment was massive for me, for the city, for everybody, but that’s not what I want to be remembered by,” Musgrove mentioned. “I want to be one of the guys that help bring a championship to the city, especially my own hometown.”
Musgrove’s baseball adventure has come complete circle since he pitched at Grossmont High in suburban El Cajon, the place his folks, Mark and Diane, nonetheless reside.
Musgrove went thru 3 different organizations prior to attending to the Padres. Before his professional occupation started, he needed to mature quicker than maximum highschool children do after his father was once bothered with Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune dysfunction that left him paralyzed for a number of months.
Then a highschool sophomore, Musgrove took turns together with his siblings spending lengthy days and nights at Mark’s bedside within the sanatorium after which a care middle. It were given to the purpose that Mark and Joe had conversations about what was once anticipated of the son if the daddy didn’t make it.
That’s when baseball got here into sharp center of attention.
“The one thing that offered Joe a reprieve was going to baseball practice and he would tell me, ’No, dad, I’ll stay here,” and I mentioned, ‘No, Joe, you need to get away and go out and clear your head and whatever happens is going to happen whether you’re right here or now not,'” mentioned Mark Musgrove, who were a policeman in San Diego and neighboring National City, after which a personal investigator. “So, he would go to practice and I think he found a lot of solitude and a lot of mental relief, emotional relief, by going there.”
The time clear of the sanatorium was once certainly really helpful.
“That kind of showed me what baseball was for me in my life,” Joe Musgrove mentioned. “I’d always had fun with it and loved it because I was good at it but never really understood what part in my life it really had. It was all the joy I had.”
It can be six months prior to the Musgroves were given readability on what Mark’s restoration can be like. Money was once getting tight and Joe thought to be getting a process to lend a hand out.
His dad mentioned no.
“He continued to push me toward baseball because he could see the potential I had,” Musgrove mentioned. “We didn’t know it would look like this but what could come of it could be something similar.”
Musgrove had signed a letter of intent to play for Tony Gwynn at San Diego State. But after the Toronto Blue Jays took him with the forty sixth select within the 2011 draft, he signed for a $500,000 bonus. That allowed him to lend a hand with family bills and purchase again his folks’ space from a circle of relatives buddy who had stepped in to lend a hand them keep away from foreclosures.
He was once traded to the Astros and made his giant league debut in 2016. He were given the win in aid in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series, which he venerated on a vainness registration code at the Range Rover he purchased his folks. He was once traded to Pittsburgh after which bought by way of the Padres in January 2021.
Mark Musgrove cheered for the Padres as a child and nonetheless recollects most of the gamers from the growth 1969 group. Now he, Diane and different members of the family watch Joe’s begins from seats at the 3rd base aspect of Petco Park.
“No. 1, it’s good having him home,” Mark Musgrove mentioned. “It’s like going to watch him play in any other venue while he was growing up. He enjoys being here. He really enjoys San Diego as a home and a place where he can ply his trade. The fit’s perfect.”
Musgrove (10-7, 2.93 ERA, 184 strikeouts) is simply the thirteenth Padres pitcher to have 30 begins, 10 wins and a sub-3.00 ERA.
He is aware of he has a uncommon alternative by the use of his five-year contract to check out to win a World Series together with his hometown group. He tries to distance himself from the 2017 identify with the Astros as a result of the sign-stealing scandal.
“I still don’t feel great about wearing that ring around or telling people that I was a World Series champion on that team,” he mentioned. “I want one that feels earned and that was a true championship. So that’s the goal.”